Can 'Halo' Still Happen?

It was widely presumed that Microsoft's plan to mount a movie adaptation of its hit "Halo" game series died when producer Peter Jackson and director Neill Blomkamp's proposed movie failed to come together. It got scrapped when Microsoft couldn't agree with Fox and Universal on the budget.

But that hasn't stopped "Pirates of the Caribbean" writer Stuart Beattie, an avid gamer, from cooking up his own spec version of a "Halo" movie, which he wrote during the 2007 writers' strike, based on the "Fall of Reach" storyline from Eric Nyland's Halo prequel novel. Nor has it daunted Beattie, who has been trying fervently to get his "Halo" movie off the ground.

SciFi Wire caught up with Beattie recently and talked with him about "Halo" and the latest developments. "I really believe a 'Halo' movie would just be awesome, especially this 'Halo' movie." Maybe there is hope?

"I just think it's an amazing story about this child that no one cares about and who cares for no one else, who kind of ends up saving all of humanity," Beattie said. "I firmly believe that the first 'Halo' movie needs to be the 'Fall of Reach' story, because it sets up all the characters, the world, the Covenant, the big struggle between mankind and the aliens, all that stuff," he explains. "So that's where my money is."

As for the kind of budget necessary to make 'Halo,' Beattie mentions that "it's a big $100 million-plus film." However, as we know all too well, video game movies usually aren't that great and don't do too well. Hopefully that will change with "Prince of Persia," but until then we'll have to wait.

"Once my generation of filmmakers start to get to that position where they allow us to make these big-budget films based on these video games, then we'll start to get some really great movies based on video games," Beattie said. "I think it's the same as books, [and] it's the same as comic books. I think not every video game should be made into a movie, just like not every book should be made into a movie. Not every comic book should, but certain ones definitely should, because they're so visual, the characters are so rich and the mythology is so vast that they should. Halo is definitely one of the shoulds."

First Showing believes that Peter Jackson is using "District 9" as a way of proving that Neill Blomkamp can direct a big feature and can bring audiences in. So not only does that movie need to do well at the box office in August, but "Prince of Persia" needs to be a worldwide hit as well. If all of that works out, a "Halo" movie moving forward once again, hopefully with Neill Blomkamp at the helm and Peter Jackson producing, the same as before.

More news to come! Catch ya' later!
Sources: SciFi Wire, First Showing